Originally, Hames had come to meet Ceres with a light heart.
She had told him to call her when the time came, so she figured he was finally calling. She came just to investigate if he was truly a saint and to see his face.
Hames, who had come without much thought, was soon horrified.
“What are you doing?!"
It was because Ceres had suddenly taken off his shirt, exposing his upper body. Even when she tried to stop him, he looked at her with a face that seemed clueless as to why she was stopping him, leaving her dumbfounded.
'Does he not realize how his appearance looks to others?'
Normally, a man exposing his upper body wasn't encouraged, but it wasn't forbidden either.
But Ceres was different. He was, after all, universally acknowledged as the Empire's greatest beauty.
'Think about how you look to women. Even Hero Alios next to you is pretending to be embarrassed while staring.'
It was already shocking enough for a slender man to be taking off his clothes in front of women, but then he told them to touch his back too.
'Are you trying to seduce us right now?'
It was absurd, but since he himself asked for it, she had no choice.
'It's truly soft.'
Ceres's body, which she touched for the first time, felt incredibly pleasant.
Enough to surprise even Hames, who, as a High Priestess, had handled all sorts of high-quality goods.
And...
'Why is it so slender?'
Even just by looking, she could tell his body was slender, but touching it directly made it feel even more certain.
'He seemed healthier than I expected, but was that not actually the case?'
She had heard the rumors about him being sickly.
But when she first met Ceres, he had called people, treated them, and acted boldly, so she thought he was better off than the rumors suggested.
Feeling something was off, Hames used the holy power she was infusing to examine Ceres's body. Her expression immediately hardened.
'Is this really the body of a living person? How on earth has he lived like this until now?!'
A powerful force was pressing down on Ceres's entire body, damaging it and hindering its proper function. At this point, just being alive must be nothing but pain.
And yet...
'With a body like this, he treated all those people for days without rest?'
She recalled their first meeting. Many people had come, and Ceres had treated them without complaint.
Had he done all that with such a pain-ridden body?!
“Ugh, ugh...."
As she felt the shock, Ceres continued to groan.
‘Doing something strenuous like mana infusion for a long time with a body like this would naturally be painful.’
She understood his intention to recover his body as much as possible before meeting that tyrant.
But honestly, she didn't think doing this would have much effect. Wasn't it just causing him needless pain?
Because of those thoughts, she had even tried to make the excuse of returning home to stop.
However, unable to refuse his desperate request, she continued the painful act, and then the incident occurred.
'Treat those full-body burns in his current state?'
Looking at the patient brought by the neighboring countess, Hames frowned.
What would happen if Ceres, who had been harshly overworking his body, now used enough power to heal such wounds? She couldn't guarantee the outcome. That's why she was anxious.
She considered stepping forward to treat the patient herself, but Ceres kept trying to intervene.
“Listen, Ceres Whiperion! Don't think of others first with a body like that. No one will blame you for putting yourself first. Live for yourself!"
She had shouted loudly without realizing it.
'What was that? Was I the kind of person who could say such things?'
Words that surprised even herself had burst out.
Why? Was it because she felt pity for Ceres sacrificing himself with his ailing body?
‘...Anyway, after saying this much, he'll surely understand.’
She held onto the hope that he would please understand after she'd gone this far, but...
“Seems like you're misunderstanding something."
Ceres merely said bluntly.
"I'm not particularly doing this for others.”
“What did you say?"
“There's no need to tell me to live for myself; I'm already doing that. Because this is for me."
What? Treating others is for himself?
“If you won't help, I'll go alone. Let go.”
"No!"
Before the frozen Hames's eyes, Ceres and Alios struggled.
Hames watched them for a moment, then made up her mind.
“Alright. I'll help you.”
"Hames?!"
“Hero Alios, don't worry. I will use my holy power to assist with the treatment.”
Since it had come to this, she intended to treat the patient herself so that Ceres wouldn't need to use most of his own power.
“Ceres. You, you...?"
As he approached the patient, reluctantly supported by the two, Ares was aghast.
"I'm fine."
Ceres reassured Ares, then spoke to Hurion.
“Please promise me one thing. If I heal your daughter, you will forget all ill feelings arising from today's events.”
“Of course! If you heal her, you will be our family's benefactor; why would I harbor ill feelings? Ceres, I shall become an eternal ally to you and Whiperion!"
After making the promise, he placed his hand on Hurion's daughter, whose entire body was burned.
Hames placed her hand over his.
"As I said, I'll assist with my holy power.”
“...Do as you please.”
As Ceres's hand, after his reluctant words, began to glow, Hames poured her holy power over it.
While helping so Ceres would use as little power as possible, she realized.
‘This is indeed divine power.’
With their hands overlapped and exerting power simultaneously, she could tell.
The power Ceres wielded was superior to her own holy power.
But...
‘Was divine power such a vile force?’
It harms its owner and ultimately forces them to heal others just because they possess such power.
‘Oh, Heavenly God. Is this truly the power of a god? Must one live their entire life in pain, bearing immense responsibility, simply for possessing such power? If so, then I...’
Three days had already passed since treating the neighboring countess's daughter.
Having overcome one hurdle, it was time to get back to what I was doing.
I continued attempting to strengthen my body by constantly infusing mana and holy power.
“Ceres, do you feel anything?"
“Mm, I think I might?”
I replied hesitantly to Alios, who was asking while pouring mana into my back.
“I'll try it now, so you check if it's really mana."
I briefly removed my hands from my back and sat up.
I recalled the sensation of mana that had been circulating through my body.
I moved the faintly perceived something along the correct path that I had learned physically thanks to Alios.
Then, I felt it circulating throughout my body as if accelerating, and my whole body felt brimming with power.
“Mana! It's definitely mana!"
Alios was surprised when I succeeded in sensing and handling mana.
“I helped, but you learned incredibly quickly. Maybe Ceres has a talent for it!"
“Then can I do things like body enhancement using mana? Like how you lift people like objects..."
“It's impossible to become like me right after awakening. But even basic enhancement has amazing effects.”
Alios smiled brightly and pointed to the large coat rack next to my bed.
“Try lifting this. With one hand.”
“Alright."
I lifted the long, pole-like coat rack with one hand. This was an action originally impossible for this body.
My physical strength has been amplified several times!
It's not obvious because this body is so weak, but if it were my original body, it might have been amplified to the level of a beast.
“Ceres, try walking!"
Alios, confirming my increased strength, excitedly swished her long golden ponytail.
For a moment, I got my hopes up too.
If my body had gotten this much stronger, wasn't I already healed?
So I got out of bed and tried to walk, but almost collapsed after just a few steps.
“Ceres!"
"Are you alright?"
Alios and Hames, startled, supported me. Held up by the two of them, I was dumbfounded.
This is crazy.
It got stronger while still being sick?!
My body definitely got stronger, but the pain when walking is still the same.
Was this not it?
Come to think of it, the original Ceres did get healthier with mana, but there was no body enhancement effect.
Talkly, even though my body is enhanced, I'm still sick, so something is clearly wrong.
Is it because the person assisting with mana is different?
But even so, there's no one else I can entrust this to besides Alios.
“This won't do. Inject more mana until I get a proper feel for it."
"Understood."
Anyway, since I've awakened mana, let's keep trying to protect the body with this.
Let's also continue the holy power infusion to make the body more familiar with divine power. I need to make the effects dramatic.
This required more time, so the duration of their stay at my house lengthened.
“Hames, thanks for making time for me, but are you okay?"
I spoke to Hames, who hadn't returned to the temple for a long time despite belonging there.
“Is it really okay not to go back for so long? And didn't you say you were investigating whether I'm a saint?"
In the original novel, while meeting Ceres, Hames recognizes her divine power and confirms she is a Saintess. At that time, Hames, who felt affection but didn't yet realize he loved Ceres, reported it to his superiors despite knowing that becoming a Saintess wasn't solely a good thing. Because of that, Ceres was officially titled Saintess, and her hardships began.
However, while spending time with me, unlike in the original, she shows no sign of doing that at all.
Finding it suspicious, I asked, and Hames, who was touching my back, flinched slightly before answering.
“...I couldn't really tell. But since no divine power has manifested during this time, probably not. I've decided to report it to the temple as such.”